Ostara
Date: March 20, 21 or 22
Cross Quarter Holy day - equal day and night.
Other Names: Eostar, Spring Equinox, Vernal equinox, rites of spring, Eostra's Day, Lady's Day, Alban Eiber, Bacchanalia

Foods: seeds, sprouts, leafy greens, flower dishes, Eggs, honey
HERBS: Jasmine, daffodil, irish moss, daffodil, woodruff, violet, gorse, olive, peony, iris, narcissus, all spring flowers
Plants: Crocus, Daffodil, Jasmine, Irish Moss, Snowdrop, Ginger
COLORS: Pink, greens, yellows, All Pastels, Robin's Egg Blue
Oils/Incense - Magnolia, lotus
Ritual Oils: Lotus, Magnolia, Ginger
Symbols - Eggs, New Moon, Butterflies/Cocoons, Rabbit/Hare
Animals: Rabbit/Hare, Snakes
Mythical Creatures: Unicorn, Merpeople, Pegesus
Stones: Aquamarine, Rose Quartz, Moonstone
Element: Air
Time of the Day: Sunrise
Attunement Teas: Dandelion, Egg drinks, Hyssop, Linden
Key Actions: Open, Begin

Deities: Youthful and virile God and Goddess

GODDESSES - All Virgin Goddesses, All Goddesses of Love, All Moon Goddesses, All Androgynous Deities, Some Fertility Goddesses, Anna Fearina, Aphrodite, Astarte, Athena, Coatlicue, Cybele, Doda, Eostre, Erce, Eriu, Flidais, Gaia, Garbhog, Hera/Juno, Ishtar, Iris, Isis, Lady of the Lake, Libera, Madhusri, Ma-Ku, Melusine, Minerva, Moon Mother, the Muses, Ova, Persephone, Renpet, Rheda, Salamaona, Vesna, Vesta, Venus

GODS - All Gods of Love, All Moon Gods, Some Fertility Gods, All Gods of Song and Dance, Adonis, Cernunnos, Dagda, Danh, Dylan, Gwali, The Great Horned God, Lord of the Greenwood, Mithras, Odin, Osiris, Ovis, Pan
Aengus MacOg- A youthful deity of love, romanace, and music, who can be called upon to help escape bad situations. He is the son of the Dagda, the God of Regeneration, and Boann, the popular Irish river Goddess of the Boyne River, who represents the feminine principle of the creatory deity.
Akerbeltz- Also called the dark goat man, this horned god of all male mysteries and personifications of the male principal of creation each spring.
Attis- God of vegetation and earth, a sacrificial deity resurrected each spring.
Baal-A popular earth, vegetation and storm God whose under world associations were exalted during the demonization of the early church.
Basso Juan- A woodland God and Game Animal, who never leaves the mountains and dwells in caves, where he is protected by his animals.
Herne- His visage, complete with a beautiful rack of antlers, is found in ancient artifacts.
Eros- God of romantic love immortalized in modern Valentines Day./*


The God and Goddess have grown past their childhood and are falling in love. They will not consumate their sacred marriage until Beltane, but the fertility of their joining is already celebrated. New flowers are seen, new livestock is born, new projects are started. Everything is new and bursting with life.

Meanings: Balance, New life/Rebirth, Goddess and God in Youth, End of Winter (Non-Celtic), Light overtaking the darkness

Primary meanings: The Goddess has awaken from her winter's slumber and the earth is bursting forth with life once again. We rejoice in the balance of day and night, of maleness and femaleness, and the seeds shared b etween male and female. Light and dark are equal and we celebrate the balance of the world. It is a celecration of Eostre, Goddess of spring and fertility. Her symbols are those representing fertility - eggs and rabbits. Ostara is also the birthday od Aradia (Goddess of Magick).
We say goodbye to the dark time of the year, and welcome in the light time of year. Through sympathetic magick, we try to show the earth what we wish to occur (i.e., seeds to be sown and burst forth with life, flowers to bloom, all things to be fertilized, etc) Ostara is a solar festival.
The energies of nature slowly shift from the sluggishness of winter to the expansion of spring. The Goddess blankets the earth with fertility, bursting forth from her sleep as the God grows to Maturity - walking in the greening fields and delighting in the abundance of nature.
It is a time of beginnings, of action, of planting spells for future gain, and tending of ritual gardens. It is traditional to pick flowers. A very good time for herb magic. Plan a walk through nature - a celebratory ritual in itself. It is also a traditional time for honoring one of the younger women in the coven by appointing her Spring Queen and sending her home with an armfull of flowers.
The Christian Holiday of Easter is named after the Teutonic Goddess Eostre. The day Easter is celecrated is tied directly to the spring equinox (the first sunday after the full moon after the vernal equinox). The symbology of eggs and rabbits (hares) are overlapped as well. The easter egg is pre-christian as well. Originally it was the World Egg laid by the Goddess and split open by the heat of the Sun God, hatching the world.

Activities: Dying Eggs, Looking for Spring Growth, Gathering sacred wood for the Beltane fire, Gathering materials to make wands staffs & besoms
Taboos: None known
Things to Do Magickal Woods: